Wednesday, April 27 2005 15:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: As many as 32 organisations banned under the erstwhile Prevention Of Terrorist Act (POTA), 2002 continue to be notified as terrorist organisations under the Unlawful Activities (prevention) Amendment Act, (UAAA) 2004, Rajya Sabha was informed today (Apr 27, 2005).

Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal said, in a written reply that States of Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur were affected by terrorist, insurgency related violence.

Besides, he said that States of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh were affected by naxal violence in varying degrees.

Regarding Bio-terrorism, the Minister of State for Home Affairs S. Regupathy said that India has a plan of action to handle Bio- terrorism and Narco-terrorism in the country and in case of such attacks using biological agents; cooperation with international community will be under Biological Weapons Convention to which India is a signatory.An Indo-US Joint Working Group on Bio-terror has also will be formed.

About Infiltration, Regupathy said that Government has no reports about setting up bases by Nepalese Maoists in India, but vigilance and patrolling on the Indo-Nepal border has been stepped up.

Jaiswal added that CISF has been asked to take over the security of all the operational civil airports of the country in a phased manner; and that the Force has been inducted at 47 civil airports including at Guwahati, Jorhat and Dibrugarh.